Customer Case Study

Mobile Operator’s Unified RAN Backhaul Increases Capacity Tenfold

Vodafone Portugal proves the efficiency and profitability of migration from TDM to IP with Cisco Unified
RAN Backhaul.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
VODAFONE PORTUGAL
● Mobile operator with 5.7 million customers
● Owned by the Vodafone Group, one of the
world’s leading telecommunications
companies
CHALLENGE
● Scale capacity to meet 100 percent year-over-
year increase in traffic volumes
● Reduce operating costs for 2G and
3G+ services
● Provide infrastructure with investment
protection and transition to LTE
SOLUTION
● Cisco Unified RAN Backhaul
RESULTS
● Return on investment within 12 months
● Ten-fold increase in user data throughput
● Operational readiness for LTE enhancements
Challenge
Vodafone Portugal has been a leading example of transformation in
the mobile network for years, demonstrating a keen insight and
proactive preparation for what the world now acknowledges as a global
mobile Internet revolution. Among its many achievements, Vodafone
Portugal is also now the world’s largest IP packet-based Radio Access
Network (RAN).
Long before the growth of traffic from the popular Apple iPhone,
Vodafone Portugal began preparing for an expected avalanche of
mobile data traffic. In early 2006, the company took bold steps to begin
the transformation of their RAN to reduce the recurring costs of leasing
E1 lines that utilize time-division multiplexing (TDM) circuts to backhaul
their traffic from cell sites to the base station controller (BSC) and radio
network controller (RNC) in their mobile core. At that time, nearly half
of the RAN backhaul was based on leased lines, which represented a
huge expense.

In addition to working with their traditional radio vendors in ongoing technology readiness assessments, trials, and
®
production deployments, Vodafone made the unorthodox decision to test the Cisco RAN Optimization solution. The
solution was a great success, doubling the backhaul capacity by using only two E1 lines to backhaul four E1 circuits
per cell site, Figure 1.

Figure 1. Cisco RAN Optimization Solution Doubled Backhaul Capacity: Two E1 lines Backhaul Four E1 Circuits Per Cell Site

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 Customer Case Study

Proof in hand, Vodafone Portugal added Cisco to the list of trusted mobile network advisors for their mobile
transformation and began a full-scale production deployment of Cisco’s RAN Optimization solution in
September 2006.

Solution
Vodafone Portugal was aware that its users would contine to drive exponential demand in mobile data traffic,
especially as mobile broadband and high-speed downline packet access (HSDPA), an enhanced 3G telephony
protocol, began growing significantly in Portugal’s urban areas in 2007. The company, therefore, continued to
emphasize bold initiatives to increase capacity while controlling operating costs. The advent and popularity of
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) HSDPA and the popular DLS access in Portugal’s cities
allowed Cisco to offer Vodafone a HSDPA offload solution. The solution uses the same Cisco UnifiedRAN Backhaul
network framework and the same two leased E1 lines for backhaul, adding DSL backhaul, for a net optimization of
seven E1 circuits and DSL backhaul using two E1 lines, Figure 2.
Figure 2. Cisco Unified RAN Backhaul Solution: Two E1 lines Backhaul Seven E1 Circuits and HSDPA over ADSL Per Cell Site

This solution made Vodafone Portugal the first and largest live, end-to-end IP-based mobile backhaul network in the
industry. The company is further evolving its Cisco Unified RAN backhaul infrastructure solution to replace traditional
leased lines with a Carrier Ethernet and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network.

“The Cisco Unified RAN backhaul solution provides us with the optimal
way to meet our current needs as well as our future goals to deliver even
better value to our customers.”
—Jorge Fernandes, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Portugal

Cisco was selected as the technology provider following extensive network trials with Vodafone Portugal that
demonstrated Cisco’s ability to deliver a highly reliable IP RAN transport infrastructure to meet the ever-increasing
demands of mobile Internet services. Cisco’s Unified RAN Backhaul solution supports multiple mobile and radio
subsystems from multiple third-party vendors, which was a key requirement for Vodafone Portugal. The solution is
based on Cisco MWR 2941 Series Mobile Wireless Routers and Cisco 7600 Series Intelligent Services Edge
Routers with Circuit Emulation over Packet (CEoP) shared port adapter modules, Figure 3.

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 Customer Case Study

Figure 3. Cisco Unified RAN Backhaul with Carrier Ethernet Architecture

Part of being an early innovator in migrating from traditional TDM networks to end-to-end IP involved some
challenges for Vodafone Portugal. According to Jorge Fernandes, Vodafone Portugal’s CTO, “Although the migration
to Ethernet allows us to achieve considerable cost savings, it also poses the challenge of ensuring synchronization
to our base station sites. Our cellular networks require accurate synchronization signals to minimize interference
among sites and to ensure optimal inter-cell handover performance. The flexibility and robustness of the Cisco
Unified RAN Backhaul solution, including synchronization, have proved strategically important for us as it can be
used with any type of mobile traffic and is capable of supporting future 3G IP and 4G / LTE base stations as well.”

To help ensure optimal cost savings and further reduce dependency, Vodafone Portugal put in a requirement that
the new fiber-to-cell extensions must not rely on E1 or TDM access at the cell site. Another requirement was for
clocking and synchronization to work without a Global Positioning System (GPS), because GPS would not be
available for all sites. To meet these requirements, Cisco’s Unified RAN Backhaul solution provides a means for
timing over IP with an IEEE 1588-based solution. Cisco’s MWR 2941 as a slave together with Brilliants C-2000, a
carrier-class PRS/IEEE 1588v2 Grand Master from Brilliant Telecommunications, was validated by Vodafone’s
research and development department to meet all clocking and synchronization requirements, thus removing the
only remaining technological reliance on TDM in the RAN.

The Cisco Unified RAN Backhaul Solution features include:

● Any radio, any media, many generations (e.g., 2G, 3G, 3G+, LTE)
● Radio neutral proven interoperability with all major radio vendors
● All IP advanced timing feature support (Sync-E and IEEE 1588)
● Optimal backhaul options (e.g., 2G and 3G optimization over TDM, HSDPA offload)
● High availability and redundancy all the way to the cell site
● Optional XaaS (everything as a service) wholesale service offering potential
● End-to-end quality of service (QoS) and service-level agreement (SLA) assurance that allows reliable third-
party transmission options
● First to reach IP MPLS Forum certification, Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) certification, and
backhaul compliance
● References since December 2005

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 Customer Case Study

Results
Vodafone Portugal’s advanced fiber-to-the-cell network will eliminate recurring leased line costs. It will also position
Vodafone Portugal as a potential wholesale network service provider, enabling the company to lease capacity and
leverage their network to offer other services, such as increasingly popular managed unified communications
for businesses.

“Vodafone Portugal’s focus on delivering a superior customer experience

has put it at the forefront of the industry… Through our close
collaboration with the Vodafone Portugal team during the network trails,
Cisco was able to demonstrate how our IP NGN Carrier Ethernet design
and Unified RAN Backhaul solutions can offer a cost-effective and
seamless migration path to Ethernet backhaul networks, while
capitalizing on the cost efficiencies of IP/Ethernet transport as bandwidth
demands increase.”
—Kelly Ahuja, senior vice president, Service Provider Routing Technology Group, Cisco

Vodafone Portugal’s investment strategy is proving to be profitable.

PRODUCT LIST According to Vodafone’s 2008 annual report, “The growth in adjusted
Routing and Switching operating profit of subsidiaries was primarily driven by increases in
● Cisco MWR 1941 and 2941 Data Center
Mobile Wireless Edge Routers
Portugal and the Netherlands of 20.2% and 13.2%, respectively, at
● Cisco ME 3400 Series Ethernet constant exchange rates, resulting from the growth in service revenue,
Access Switches
as well as good cost control in Portugal…. [The company saw]
● Cisco 7609 Router
● Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice particularly strong growth in messaging and data revenue in the
Transport Platform Netherlands and Portugal where new tariffs and Vodafone Mobile
Network Management
● Cisco Active Network Abstraction (ANA)
Connect data card initiatives proved particularly successful.” And in
Vodafone’s 2009 annual report, the growth has continued: “The
growth in EBITDA [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and
Amortization] was primarily driven by increases in Portugal and the Netherlands of 12.3% and 7.9%, respectively, at
constant exchange rates, resulting from the growth in service revenue, as well as good cost control in Portugal.”

For More Information

Cisco Mobile Internet Solutions
http://www.cisco.com/go/mobile

Cisco Service Provider Solutions

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns341/networking_solutions_service_provider_home.html

Vodafone Portugal
http://www.vodafone.pt

Vodafone Portugal 2009 Annual Report

http://via.vodafone.com/etc/medialib/agm_09.Par.22820.File.dat/VF_Annual Report_2009.pdf

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 Customer Case Study

Printed in USA C36-599552-00 04/10

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